Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 30

• SERIAL, n. A literary work, usually a story that is not true, creeping through several issues of a newspaper or magazine.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Work, Issues, Stories

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.117, Courier Corporation

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• Good-bye -- if you hear of my being stood up against a stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease or falling down the cellar stairs.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wall, Fall, Thinking

  Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, Tryambak Sunand Joshi, David E. Schultz (2003). “A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce”, p.243, Ohio State University Press

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• In forgiving an injury be somewhat ceremonious, lest your magnanimity be construed as indifference.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Forgiving, Indifference, Injury

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales”, p.238, tredition

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• RETRIBUTION, n. A rain of fire-and-brimstone that falls alike upon the just and such of the unjust as have not procured shelter by evicting them.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Rain, Fall, Fire

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.107, Courier Corporation

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• RICH, adj. Holding in trust and subject to an accounting the property of the indolent, the incompetent, the unthrifty, the envious and the luckless.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Trust, Envy, Rich

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.201, University of Georgia Press

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• A popular writer writes about what people think. A wise writer offers them something to think about.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wise, Writing, Thinking

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• A king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his authority. It was originally a mace with which the sovereign admonished his jester and vetoed ministerial measures by breaking the bones of their proponents.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kings, Office, Sovereign

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.200, 谷月社

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• Cynicism is that blackguard defect of vision which compels us to see the world as it is, instead of as it should be.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Vision, World, Cynicism

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• Legitimate authority to be, to do or to have; as the right to be a king, the right to do one's neighbor, the right to have measles, and the like.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kings, Neighbor, Authority

  Ambrose Bierce (1996). “Poems of Ambrose Bierce”, p.62, U of Nebraska Press

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• I think I think, therefore I think I am.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Math, Thinking, Logic

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• PORTUGUESE, n.pl. A species of geese indigenous to Portugal. They are mostly without feathers and imperfectly edible, even when stuffed with garlic.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Portugal

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.185, University of Georgia Press

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• OUTCOME, n. A particular type of disappointment . . . . judged by the outcome, the result. This is immortal nonsense; the wisdom of an act is to be juded by the light that the doer had when he performed it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wisdom, Disappointment, Light

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.218, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• MONKEY, n. An arboreal animal which makes itself at home in genealogical trees.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Home, Animal, Tree

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.146, 谷月社

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• Bigamy, n. A mistake in taste for which the wisdom of the future will adjudge a punishment called trigamy.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Mistake, Punishment, Taste

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.22, 谷月社

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• The god of the world's leading religion.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Atheism, World, Consumerism

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.221, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Age is provident because the less future we have the more we fear it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Age

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “A Cynic Looks at Life”, p.37, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• A single swallow, it is said, devours ten millions of insects every year. The supplying of these insects I take to be a signal instance of the Creator's bounty in providing for the lives of His creatures.

  Ambrose Bierce

  God, Years, Signals

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.24, 谷月社

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• MONAD, n. The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter (see Molecule). The monad has body without bulk, and mind without manifestation - containing all the powers and possibilities needful to his evolution into a German philosopher . .

  Ambrose Bierce

  Mind, Molecules, Body

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.145, 谷月社

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• WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Affliction, Tongue, Unexpected

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2539, Delphi Classics

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• SPOOKER, n. A writer whose imagination concerns itself with supernatural phenomena, especially in the doings of spooks.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Imagination, Concern, Doings

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.210, 谷月社

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• SATIETY, n. The feeling that one has for the plate after he has eaten its contents, madam.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Feelings

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.197, 谷月社

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• APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom. The flabby wine-skin of his brain Yields to some pathologic strain, And voids from its unstored abysm The driblet of an aphorism. "The Mad Philosopher," 1697

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wine, Yield, Mad

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2356, Delphi Classics

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• Phoenix, n.
  The classical prototype of the modern 'small hot bird.'

  Ambrose Bierce

  Phoenix, Bird, Hot

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.181, University of Georgia Press

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• CALUMNUS, n. A graduate of the School for Scandal.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Graduation, School, Scandal

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.31, University of Georgia Press

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• MACE, n. A staff of office signifying authority. Its form, that of a heavy club, indicates its original purpose and use in dissuading from dissent.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Office, Purpose, Use

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.134, 谷月社

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